Ex-marine who bit off man’s ear in a pub brawl stored violent mood hidden for 30 years earlier than it erupted when he mowed down supporters at Liverpool parade

For more than three decades, Paul Doyle kept his violent temper in check.

Happily married, with three sons and a successful career in IT, the months he spent in jail for biting a man’s ear off in a pub brawl as a hot-headed 21-year-old Royal Marine reservist must have seemed like a distant memory.

But all that changed in seven horrifying minutes in Liverpool city centre.

Doyle’s anger issues – buried for 30 years – roared back to the surface with devastating consequences and, in his own words, ‘ruined my family’s life’.

Shocking dashcam footage from his car – played in court but too graphic for public consumption – left police in no doubt the 54-year-old knew what he was doing when he drove into crowds celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade on May 26.

Swearing and telling supporters – including young children – to ‘f***ing move’, he continued to accelerate as people were knocked down like skittles and dragged under the wheels of his car.

More than 130 men, women and children, aged between six months and 77 years, were seriously hurt in the carnage, and police said it was only through ‘sheer luck’ that no-one was killed.

Yesterday, as Doyle was jailed for a total of 21 and a half years, his ‘family man’ persona and reputation was in tatters.

Police said there was no ‘comprehensible’ explanation for his actions – he wasn’t drunk, high on drugs, in the middle of a mental breakdown or driven by any warped ideology.

Instead, they said Doyle ‘just lost his temper’ and ‘chose’ to use his Ford Galaxy ‘as a weapon’, indiscriminately mowing down supporters in a fit of rage because they were in his way.

Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald, who led the investigation for Merseyside Police, said Doyle ‘wanted to get where he was going and he didn’t care about who was in his way’.

It emerged yesterday that Doyle has ten previous convictions, including three for serious assaults. Most shockingly, Liverpool Crown Court heard, in July 1993 he bit off a sailor’s ear in a drink-fuelled brawl. After being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm, Doyle was jailed for 12 months.

After signing up at 18 with the Royal Engineers, he passed out of the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre, also known as CTCRM, in March 1991. Military sources said he served with 43 Commando, the unit based in Arbroath, Scotland, that helps secure the UK’s nuclear deterrent, but was never deployed on active duty.

He was discharged less than two years later, without ever seeing active service, effectively because he was unable to keep his temper under control.

A nightclub fist fight in his first six months was followed by violence towards a senior officer before criminal damage to a shop ended his military career. Then while in the Marine Reserve came the ear bite. Even while he was awaiting conviction for that, there were offences of dishonesty and breaching the peace.

He was sentenced for causing GBH on the day before his 23rd birthday, when a judge jailed him for 12 months. Yet, following his release from prison, he appeared to have turned his back on his youthful violence.

He studied for a degree in psychology and maths, ultimately working in management positions as a network security consultant, including for an NHS Trust. Company records show that he previously ran several businesses and most recently was working in cyber security.

Aged 32, he married his wife, Alison, now 48 and a teacher, and the couple had three sons. They set up home in a £300,000 detached property in Croxteth, around six miles from Liverpool city centre.

Doyle, a fitness fanatic who competed in triathlons, also helped out at his sons’ Scout group, where he became a leader. Friends said they rarely saw him with a beer at parties and he never smoked or took drugs.

And while he and his sons support Liverpool’s rivals Everton, police said there was no evidence football allegiances were ‘a motive or a factor’ for his rampage.

He and his wife seemingly led an ordinary life, regularly posting happy pictures of their family holidays abroad on social media. However, all that unravelled over the course of just a few minutes when his violent tendencies resurfaced with catastrophic consequences.

Doyle sobbed uncontrollably in the dock last month as he admitted dangerous driving, affray and another 29 GBH-related offences. But despite his display of emotion, police don’t believe he has shown any ‘true remorse’ for his actions, or the supporters he injured.

Despite telling arresting officers ‘I’ve ruined my family’s life’, he went on to concoct a series of lies in a bid to shift the blame away from himself.

Doyle said he had gone into a ‘blind panic’ because he saw someone in the crowd with a knife and feared he was going to be stabbed. Horrifying dashcam footage, on which Doyle can be heard repeatedly shouting, ‘f***ing p***ks, f***ing move, get out of the f***ing way,’ while honking his horn and accelerating into fans, disproved his account.

The footage revealed Doyle’s aggressive driving began much earlier in his journey, jumping red lights and undertaking cars before he reached the city centre in his wife’s two-ton Ford Galaxy. He was supposed to be picking up friends who wanted to catch a glimpse of Liverpool’s players with the Premier League trophy.

But after finding Dale Street clogged with fans just before 6pm, Doyle began driving through the crowds, as shocked parents pulled children out of his path.

Continuing into Water Street – which was closed to traffic – Doyle accelerated into fans, screaming ‘Get out of the f***ing way, f***ing hell… move, move, move’ as fans were flung onto the bonnet, their faces contorted in fear and pain.

Only when hero fan Dan Barr jumped inside Doyle’s automatic car and grabbed hold of the gearstick, did the vehicle finally come to a halt – 435 yards after the first collision with a pedestrian. Doyle, described as emotionless, still had his foot on the accelerator, even though four people were trapped under the wheels.

Bodycam footage shows him slumped inside a police van, saying: ‘My life’s ruined now.’

In harrowing accounts from victims, a court heard the mother of a six-month-old baby struck in his pram say the ‘horror of not knowing whether he was alive or dead in that instant will haunt me for ever’.

Incredibly, one victim, Francesca Massey, 24, who suffered bruising, also survived the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.

Ms Massey said Doyle’s rampage ‘brought back vivid memories of that night – the same overwhelming fear, the moment of stillness before chaos and the desperate rush to escape with the crowd of innocent people around me’.

Jailing Doyle, Andrew Menary KC, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, said it was clear from those who had given supportive statements that Doyle was regarded as a ‘devoted husband and father’ who had ‘lived a disciplined and responsible life for many years’.

‘These people are as bewildered as everyone else at the shocking events,’ he added, saying Doyle had displayed ‘inexplicable and undiluted fury’.

The judge said it was ‘almost impossible to comprehend how any right-thinking person could act as you did’.

Doyle showed no sign of emotion as he was led to the cells.